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REVIEW article

Front. Neuroanat.
Volume 18 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnana.2024.1469250
This article is part of the Research Topic Updates and Discussions About Basal Ganglia and Their Circuits View all 3 articles

Therapeutic ultrasound: An innovative approach for targeting neurological disorders affecting the basal ganglia

Provisionally accepted
  • Translational Brain Plasticity Laboratory, Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The basal ganglia are involved in motor control and action selection, and their impairment is manifest in movement disorders including Parkinson's disease, dystonia, and others. The complex neuronal circuitry of the basal ganglia is seated deep inside the brain and presents significant treatment challenges. Conventional treatment strategies, such as invasive surgeries and medications, may have 7me-limited effectiveness and result in considerable side effects. Noninvasive ultrasound treatment approaches are becoming increasingly recognised for their therapeutic potential for reversibly permeabilising the blood-brain barrier, targeted therapeutic delivery deep into the brain, and neuromodulation. Studies on animals and early clinical trials using ultrasound as a therapeutic modality have begun to demonstrate promising outcomes for controlling symptom severity while preserving neural tissue, and could improve quality of life for patients living with basal ganglia impairments. This review article explores the therapeutic frontiers of ultrasound technology, describing the brain mechanisms that are triggered and engaged through ultrasound. We highlight how this cutting-edge method could transform the way neurological disorders associated with the basal ganglia are managed, opening the door to less invasive and more effective treatments.

    Keywords: Basal Ganglia, ultrasound, focused ultrasound, Blood-Brain Barrier, therapeu7cs, Parkinson's disease, neurological disorders

    Received: 23 Jul 2024; Accepted: 17 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Singh and Reynolds. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: John N. Reynolds, Translational Brain Plasticity Laboratory, Department of Anatomy, School of Biomedical Sciences, and the Brain Health Research Centre, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.